Will there be a Star Trek: Picard season 4?

With season 3 now concluded, fans will surely be wondering if and when they will get to see Picard and the rest of his crew again. But is a fourth season on the cards?

Read on for everything you need to know about why Star Trek: Picard won't be coming back for a fourth season.

Will there be a Star Trek: Picard season 4?

At this time, it seems that there won't be a fourth season of Star Trek: Picard. It has been repeated time and time again that the series was planned as three seasons, with cast members and creatives going so far as to call season 3 the "final season".

In 2020, Star Trek: Picard co-creator Akiva Goldsman told Collider: "I mean, I think we have discussed it as both a three season show, a five season show, a 'let’s just keep going forever' show. Star Trek: Picard in my view will go as long as Patrick Stewart wants to do it.

"As I’m sure you know, he was not interested in coming back. And we did a lot of really good collaborative story breaking and talking and you know and I think he’s particularly delighted in a good way about having come back. And we will rely on that good will until he feels he’s done."

In February 2022, Goldsman then told TrekMovie that while "the door is always open for a season 4", the series "was always planned to be three seasons."

He continued: "If some combination of CBS and Patrick [Stewart] and the world all said 'season 4', I’m sure we would engage it, dare I say? But no, currently it remains a three-season object."

Then, in March 2022, it seems that the news was fully confirmed. Seven of Nine actor Jeri Ryan took to Twitter after filming on season 3 had finished, and said: "That’s a series wrap on #StarTrekPicard. So surreal since season 2 has just started airing.

"I can’t wait for you all to see what’s to come in season 3! Huge love to our incredible cast and crew. What [a] journey this has been…"

When asked whether this meant there were no more seasons in the works, Ryan replied: "Nope, it was always intended to be 3 and done."

However... earlier this year fans got a glimmer of hope. Speaking at a TCA panel, as reported by the AV Club, showrunner Terry Matalas said the series was ending as the team wanted to give Picard and his team a proper send-off.

He added: "What better way to end the journey than to look back at the beginning, and bring some Next Gen friends? The storyline has a strong sense of conclusion."

Despite this, Patrick Stewart said at the same panel: "There’s still enormous narrative potential for what we’ve been doing, and doors are left open."

He also added that he didn't want Picard to look like a three-season-long Star Trek: The Next Generation reunion, because "that would simply be stepping back".

Alex Kurtzman went on to confirm that a three-year plan had always been discussed with Stewart, but "that being said, anything is possible".

When would Star: Trek Picard season 4 be released?

It's hard to say just when a fourth season of Star Trek: Picard would be released, if one was ever commissioned. As of April 2023 it still seems as though the series will be ending with season 3.

However, if another season were to be commissioned, it seems unlikely we would see it back on our screens until Summer 2024 at the very earliest. We'll keep this page updated as soon as any further information is released.

Will Patrick Stewart or the Picard cast be back in other Star Trek projects?

Should Star Trek: Picard not return for a fourth season, it certainly seems that a number of the cast would be interested in a return in another project, whether this be a film or series.

At New York Comic Con 2022, Stewart said at a panel for the series that "we could still make a movie" after the show has finished airing.

Subsequently, in February 2023, Matalas told TrekMovie: "There’s no question that this will feel, by the time it’s over, like the final voyage of the Next Gen cast. And without going into spoiler-ific detail, that doesn’t mean to say that a kind of 'Next Next Generation show' couldn’t continue with legacy characters. A kind of 'Star Trek: Legacy' if you will, where these characters can continue to interact with a whole new generation.

"And when I say that, I also mean characters from Deep Space Nine and Voyager as well. But again, I will remind fans, this is just my dream of dreams. And it’s not currently in development in any way. But should it ever be, I would be there in a New York minute."

Following up on the potential for a Legacy series, Matalas later told Den of Geek that he would "love nothing more" than to make a spin-off set in the 25th Century focused on Seven of Nine and Raffi.

Meanwhile, Riker star Jonathan Frakes told the publication that "as you’ll see by the end of the season, it’s ripe for a continuation of some version of what we’ve established in the show. Not more Picard, but certainly, Next Gen is alive and well."

When talk of a Star Trek: Legacy series, focussed on the Next Generation characters' children trended on Twitter, Frakes told TrekMovie that he is "an eternal optimist" and that "given what’s going on on social and trending, it seems to me that somebody’s got to address it."

He continued: "You’ll see that by the end of the show, it’s set up. The legacy characters – the two LaForges, Worf’s got a kid, Riker and Troi have a daughter who’s brilliant, and Jack Crusher is a brilliant character. And he’s on the bridge now. Jeri Ryan is there as a captain. Everybody loves Shaw.

"There’s a lot of the pieces of the puzzle for the Legacy show, in my humble opinion."

So it seems the potential is certainly there for a follow-up to Star Trek: Picard, even if it isn't in another season of the series on Prime Video.

Star Trek: Picard season 3 is available on Paramount Plus in the US, and on Amazon Prime Video in the UK – try Amazon Prime Video for free for 30 days.

For more news, reviews and features, check out our dedicated Sci-Fi page or find something to watch now with our TV Guide and Streaming Guide.

Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only £1 with delivery to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.